Time's Fire
by BitterSweetTeller
Summary: Since I didn't like the episode Time's Orphan, I thought I'd write my own version of the episode called Time's Fire. Rated K plus for suggestive content and some action.


Time's Fire:

Side note: If you haven't seen Deep Space Nine's episode Time's Orphan, please do before reading this oneshot fanfiction. It'll make more sense this way...since this is an alternate story after the beginning/intro of that episode. The side story with Worf and Dax still mainly happens.

Kira asks, "have you figured out what this thing is yet?"

Dax concluded, "it's some sort of time portal. From the chroniton signature, we think it sent Molly about sixty years into the past."

Kira realized in worry, "wait…isn't that in the timeframe that the Occupation was having rule over Bajor?"

Dax concluded, "that's why Odo is sending security measures over…as backup."

Kira figured, "then why do I still have a bad feeling about this?"

Dax assured her, "we'll get Molly back. Count on it."

Kira wondered, "then how do we?"

Dax figured, "first, we have to find a way to reactivate the portal: It's been abandoned for a long time and it destabilized when Molly fell through it. The only problem is that we're not sure how to work with this technology…all concerns about the Occupation aside."

Kira concluded with a sigh, "something tells me that the chief isn't going to stop until he figures it out."

Dax concluded, "something tells me you're right."

Kira went on, "assuming you can get it back online…then what?"

Dax figured, "we punch a transport scanning beam through the portal and try to lock onto Molly's DNA signature…but we'd have to be careful to screen out Cardassian DNA if need be."

Kira concluded, "then pull her back into the present."

Dax concluded, "that's the idea."

Hours later, the panel O'Brien's working on sprung to life. He sighs, "finally." Keiko was by his side, as the portal sprung to life. Odo's security forces were armed with phasers, and at the ready. Dax and Bashir were at the portal's controls. O'Brien checks, "transporter interface link?"

Dax confirmed, "synchronized."

O'Brien went on, "DNA acquisition sensors?"

Bashir confirmed, "locked in."

Dax assured O'Brien, "we're as ready as we'll ever be."

O'Brien figured, "let's do it then." He turns to Keiko, who smiles bravely. As Dax started up the portal, the portal's humming intensified and started swirling in the middle with a ripple effect. It then got more intense. O'Brien realized worried, "we're losing DNA lock!" O'Brien tried to make up for the interference.

Bashir assured him, "we've got a DNA lock. It's her…and several Cardassians!"

Kira urged, "can you screen them out?"

Dax groaned with frustration, "I can't! One of the Cardassians has her in his grip…and it's interfering with the screening out."

Kira muttered with sarcasm, "great. Ready phasers!" Several Cardassians took out their disruptors before Starfleet security officials took out their phasers, shooting them in the chests. A certain eighteen year old girl with black hair by the name of Molly was gripped hard by one of the Cardassians, who was also one of those with a disruptor that fired upon the security officials first. The remaining Starfleet security officials kept firing at the Cardassians, but they started to spread out.

One of the Cardassians figured, "a cave of the resistance, no doubt." They had noticed Kira and several of the Bajoran security officials. Kira, Dax, and O'Brien fired drawn out phasers at the Cardassians.

That is, until the Cardassian with Molly close at hand said, "don't shoot…or I kill her!" Eighteen year old Molly took the opportunity of silence to bite the Cardassian in the arm and knock him over with a kick to the chest. He had thick skin, but it still hurt. The Cardassian fell to the ground, long enough to be stunned by a phaser blast.

Keiko realized with tears in her eyes, "Molly…"

Molly realized to Keiko's inner joy, "ma?" Just then, a disrupter blast hit her, knocking her out on the cave floor.

O'Brien called out, "Molly?" He rushed over to Molly's eighteen year old body, ducking behind the portal console and firing from behind at another Cardassian. The taken off guard Cardassian fell to the ground knocked out with the stun setting. Soon afterwards, Kira and Dax had helped take down the rest of the Cardassians.

An hour later…

O'Brien was in the captain's office of Deep Space Nine, with Sisko and Keiko. Keiko wondered in worry, "is she going to be all right?"

Sisko assured her, "your daughter is going to be fine, but there is some bad news."

O'Brien wondered, "what?"

Sisko concluded, "the portal was damaged during the crossfire in the cave…beyond repair. We can't try again to bring your eight year old daughter back, or even bring those Cardassians back to the Occupation."

O'Brien urged, "and what's going to happen to them?"

Sisko sighed, "those Cardassians will be in the Brig until further notice. Your daughter, however, is under Starfleet's recommendations to be sent to a rehabilitation center."

Keiko assured him, "we'll do anything we can for our daughter…including cooperating with Starfleet."

Sisko concluded, "that's all I can ask of you and your daughter. According to an interrogation of the Cardassians, she was one of their…best hunters, trained by Cardassians."

Keiko insisted, "surely it was against her will though."

Sisko concluded, "even then, it still doesn't make it right. According to the Bajoran military records, many Bajoran resistance members are dead because of her."

O'Brien wondered in worry, "what's going to happen to her?"

Sisko figured with a sigh, "I wish I could say more, but only time will tell."

Hours later…

Eighteen year old Molly was in a shuttle bay, lost and confused. She was escorted by four Starfleet security officials, including Odo. Before she was escorted into the shuttle that would take her to a rehabilitation center, Keiko and O'Brien appeared with a bag across O'Brien's shoulder. Molly said, "home."

Keiko urged bitter sweetly, "and now you'll have a new home."

A Starfleet security official asked Odo, "should they be here?"

Odo confirmed, "yes."

O'Brien concluded, "thanks, Odo."

Keiko sighed, "here's your things. Go ahead…take them." Odo gestured a nod to his security officials to let Molly go briefly. Eighteen year old Molly uneasily took the bag from O'Brien, and noticed her doll Lupi in it.

Molly slightly smiled to herself. She said, "good luck, ma…pa." And with that, Molly was escorted into the shuttle, much to the mixed feelings of O'Brien and Keiko. Keiko cried in O'Brien's arms, and there was nothing else to do about it. Or...was there?

**The End…Or Just the Beginning?**

**Please Feel Free To Comment On Or Continue This Storyline**


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